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1er Congrès panafricain de préhistoire, Nairobi, 1947

Titre original : Congrès de Nairobi 34

Statut : Approuvé

Révision :

Cette transcription est terminée et approuvée.

28 bis

[coupure de journal]

STUDY OF FOSSIL APE DISCOVERIES
(The East African Standard, 10.1-1947
A very important pronouncement, one which he has refused to disclose or anticipate in any way up to the present, is expected to be made by Professor Le Gros Clark, F.R.S., of Oxford, one of the world's leading authorities on human evolution, at the forthcoming pan-African Congress on Prehistory in Nairobi.
The Professor has been studying both the Kenya and the South Africa fossil ape discoveries and it is stated that his statement will be concerned with the results of these examinations.
His important findings are expected to be revealed during the course of his paper dealing with the origin and evolution of man.
Dr. L. S. B. Leakey, organising secretary of the Congress, explained to the East African Standard yesterday that although the discussions were primarily concerned with Stone Age man, his culture and geographical background, the climate of the period and the animals associated with him, another aspect of human origin would also be considered.
Many years ago, he said, very primitive and early remains of anthropoid apes were found in deposits in Egypt, and this suggested that the African Continent had been occupied by members of this stock, from which man and apes evolved. Subsequently, important discoveries of fossil ape remains in Europe and India - more particularly the latter country - led certain, scientists to believe that the centre of evolution of the anthropoid stock, including man, apes and monkeys, might have been somewhere in Central Asia.
Focus Shifted to Kenya
Within the last fifteen years, however, the focus had shifted back to Africa as the result of discoveries of fossil apes in South Africa and Kenya. South Africa fossil apes were of unusual interest in that in certain respects they approached more closely to man than any other known fossil ape, but at the same time their relatively recent geologicam data suggested they were not ancestral to humanity, but a side branch from a common stem which evolved in a direction closer to man than eitehr the gorilla or the chimpanzee. The Kenya fossil apes, which dated back to the periods referred to as the "lower miocene," presented a different problem. A number of different genera of extinct apes had been found, among them the Pro-Consul, which exhibited characteristics closer to man than to apes, while in other respects they were essentially apes.
The Congress, Dr. Leakey stated, had been called into being because at the present time the prehistory of the African Continent was becoming a subject of major importance, not only to workers in the African field but also to those in Europe and Asia. Although the study of the Stone Age started in Europe, especially England and France, in the last century, even before 1900 a number of important discoveries had been made in Africa. Since 1920 work on the Stone Age in various parts of Africa had become intensified, and a certain amount of confusion had arisen owing to the culture being given local names - principally because of minor variations - whereas it was clear that the culture was a single whole.
Task for Congress
'This is one of the things that has got to be discussed and settled at the Congress," Dr. Leakey continued. "Owing to the fact that workers are so isolated from each other the same culture has, in many cases, been given different names in different areas. As the war drew to a close ans as workers in various parts of the Continent started to plan intensive research, a number of leaders, at my instigation, decided the time had come when a Congress should be called into being concerned only with the prehistory of Africa. This would provide an opportunity for the workers to get together and, in public, thrash out their difficulties and problems, in order that new programmes of research could be started on common footing.
"This Congress is the first ever held dealing only with the subject of African prehistory, although many international congresses have been held in the past concerning the prehistory of the world as a whole. It is intended that the Pan-African Congress shall be hels henceforth at intervals of four years, and one of the matters to be decided will be the venue of the next meeting to be held at the end of 1950, or early in 1951."

Métadonnées

Titre: Congrès de Nairobi 34
Créateur: Mauny, Raymond (1912-1994)
Description: Cahier de notes de Raymond Mauny sur le 1er congrès panafricain de préhistoire à Nairobi en 1947.
Date: 1947
Identifiant: RM_20_034.jpg
Source: Fonds Raymond Mauny. Grand équipement documentaire du Campus Condorcet. Cote Paris1 BRA RM.
Langue: fre

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